Xiotech Corporation, the storage networking innovator, has announced the pan-European availability of Magnitude 3D, featuring the industry's first and only Dimensional Storage.

Cluster architecture for storage area networks (SANs). Magnitude 3D's innovative architecture applies the proven benefits of clustered computing to SANs, delivering unmatched resilience, responsiveness, and scalability. Magnitude 3D is the first and only storage solution with Zero Server Footprint(tm), enabling intra-controller and cross-cluster storage failover without any host software - eliminating complexity and downtime. Magnitude 3D leverages a clustered storage architecture to enhance the proven benefits of Magnitude - the only storage solution that allows dynamic, on-the-fly configuration changes, management, and maintenance without business disruption. SANs were first developed to give enterprises an easier way to share storage resources across servers and applications, thus simplifying management and improving overall efficiency of IT environments. Although SANs have evolved and become widely deployed, traditional enterprise SANs continue to feature static, chassis-based architectures that focus on eliminating a single point of failure. These architectures have limited storage flexibility and come with large capital investment risks. Xiotech's Dimensional Storage Clusters enable multiple layers of resilience (MLOR), delivering unmatched ease of use with unequalled uptime. Magnitude 3D's architecture provides resilient availability, performance, and data integrity across infrastructure layers - in many cases where traditional architectures would suffer from performance degradation, data loss, or outright failure. Dimensional Storage Clusters deliver resilience far beyond traditional single-chassis systems by embracing technology innovations to deliver distributed, N-way availability, continuous storage performance, full server and application infrastructure independence, and maximum data integrity in the event of site or cluster-wide disasters. "We have seen great interest in storage clustering in Europe as well as the rest of the world because of the unmatched resilience and dynamic responsiveness the technology offers," said Philippe Foss, Xiotech's Vice President for Europe Middle East and Africa. "We have developed Magnitude 3D clusters to enable our customers to make planned downtime a thing of the past."

Magnitude 3D: Dimensional Storage Clusters

Dimensional Storage Clusters enable true infrastructure independence via a storage clustering architecture that extends and delivers on the capabilities of clustered computing, transcending legacy storage networks to deliver storage agility that can match to the needs of the real-time enterprise. The clustered storage architecture breaks existing SAN limitations, replacing tightly defined, static, chassis-based SANs with fibre-distributed controllers and a virtual storage pool in which businesses can seamlessly mix and match drive types, logical units of processing (LUNs), and heterogeneous servers. As storage requirements expand, capacity, control, and performance can be dynamically scaled or added incrementally. The clustered component-based architecture features controllers, drive bays, and control platforms, which are deployed as independent modules across fibre-distributed networks. Flexibility and resilience are enhanced by allowing components to be placed where they are needed vs. in a single chassis - dramatically mitigating risk in the event of an outage in any one location. A modular design enables flexible investment, deployment, and management of storage resources: the only storage architecture to scale seamlessly from edge to core. Dimensional virtualisation and intelligent control eliminate the complexity of traditional SAN management by abstracting physical complexity into a highly intuitive management environment. Administrators manage LUNs associated with servers or applications instead of specific physical arrays and drives. This class-leading ease of use means that:

* Any administrator can manage a Dimensional Storage Cluster, enabling existing IT resources to be more effectively utilised and eliminating the need for expensive, highly trained specialists or professional services consultants.

* Automated provisioning and application driven response dynamically manage the cluster without operator intervention, eliminating the need for emergency staffing, overtime hours and crisis management. The clustered architecture is inherently designed for maximum data integrity in the case of site failures. It eliminates traditional design components that put data integrity at risk in the case of failure/disasters. The architecture also features the industry's simplest, yet most powerful, geographic replication and resilience tools, delivering the industry's fastest time-to-recovery. Magnitude family products provide return-to-state in seconds or minutes vs. the hours or days required by traditional SANs.

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